31 March, 2011

ladies who lunch


a couple weeks ago, my sister and i took a little, impromptu trip to downtown LA because we were craving bottega louie.

i usually order the bianco pizza (seen here), but this time we tried the margherita.

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oh my gosh.

best pizza of my life....as evidenced by my face in these photos.

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(that's probably the happiest i've ever looked.)


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(how cute are these cupcakes?? they have baby macarons on top!)


on the way out, we picked up some macarons and headed over to intelligentsia in silver lake for some coffee.

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bottega louie has good macarons, but paulette's are waaaaay better. best macarons i've ever had. go there! trust me!

i love LA. i love coffee. i love pizza. i love macarons. and i love my little sister.

my old friend


this week is LA week on my blog! ha! i blogged about a trip to LA yesterday, this post is about LA, and there's another one coming later today.

you'd think we should just move there, wouldn't you??

...we're thinking about it. :)

anyway, you all know that i'm obsessed with a coffee. as a coffee fiend, i HAD to try intelligentsia. so a few weeks ago, levi and i checked out their pasadena café.

we went on a sunday, so it was craaaaaazzzzaaayy, but they totally lived up to the hype.

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we shared french toast with berry syrup, grapefruit, blackberries, and bacon. it was DELICIOUS.


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going.

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going.

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gone.


we each had a macchiato and shared a mocha.

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i was pretty cracked out...but very happy.


intelligentsia knows what they're doing. they treat coffee with absolute respect. it was fantastically pretentious!

their espresso almost tastes like they don't use water. the flavor is so pure. does that even make sense?

i wouldn't mind moving just to be closer to one of their locations...

30 March, 2011

these are a few of my favorite things.


our monday consisted of:

LA
anthropologie
paulette macarons
intelligentsia coffee

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perfection.

four very important things


1. i got tangled yesterday.

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2. i got a (very) used bike on monday.

3. i'm on instagram! my username is avec_la_fleur.

4. i get to see stacey today!!!! levi's making her blonde.

29 March, 2011

lazy


all i want to do today is lay outside with levi on a fluffy blanket with my face turned up to the sun. someone will bring us delicious sandwiches on amazing, chewy bread, and we'll sip something sparkly and tangy. i want to feel sleepy, content, warm, and relaxed all day.

picnik
(photo from summer 2009)

28 March, 2011

this is the titillating post where i blog about...


...my kitchen cupboards!

woohoo!!! aren't you excited?!

i'm not going to call this a before & after; i'm going to call it a before & midway.

before:

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midway:

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the after will come one day.... when i can afford more containers.

i am crazy about my new OXO POP containers. they're so awesome.

gosh, you know you're growing up when organizing your kitchen cupboards gets you all excited. we also got a new doorknob on our bedroom door last week...that was pretty exciting too.

next on the list is painting the kitchen a proper shade of white. it's a disgusting yellowy-cream-beige right now. everything looks sallow in there. i hate it.

what grown-up things get you excited? please tell me i'm not alone.

25 March, 2011

violet, you're turning violet!


this week, levi made me blonder and added some lavender pieces to my hair.

i LOVE it.

unfortunately, it's really tricky to photograph.

here's the best i could get:

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it's really subtle.

the lavender doesn't show up at all in this picture, but levi likes it, so i'll throw it in for good measure:

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it's fun being married to your hair stylist.

(here's a picture of when he put pink in my hair.)

24 March, 2011

on the inside...lately


so as you all know, i go to counseling weekly, and i take medication for a mood disorder.

it feels like i've gotten past a lot of my issues that were closest to the surface. of course, they're not all solved or anything, but they've been discussed, and i have some sort of plan of action with most of them. i've seen SO much improvement in myself and my life over the past year and two months of therapy. it's really incredible how it works! it's amazing that just talking about things does anything at all, but it really does.

so lately, i feel like we've finally gotten down to the root of a lot of my issues...to one of the deepest darkest parts i've held inside of me. it's the part i don't really share with others, the part i'm really afraid of talking about...which is weird because i'm not really one to be afraid of talking about or sharing much of anything.

this thing is one of the exceptions i guess. at first, talking about it seemed to release a lot of the power that i had given to it. it seemed to make it ever so slightly better because it had been revealed in the light of day.

but lately, i've been feeling like i'm walking around with this huge, open, gaping wound. it's on my mind almost all the time....more than it was before, which is really saying something because i was pretty obsessive with my thoughts on it before. i feel totally preoccupied. and i'm hoping that counseling will work its mysterious magic soon.

i don't want to feel like this anymore. i hate it. it affects me emotionally, mentally, physically, spiritually, relationally. it affects the decisions i make every day, my outlook on the world, my perception of others.

i'm not miserable or anything. i'm not even really depressed. i'm just aware. i'm conscious of the fact that this thing i'm working through isn't normal or healthy. i'm acknowledging that it sort of rules my world...and it has for almost as long as i can remember.

i don't even really know why i'm writing about this right now. i'm sure anyone reading is totally irritated with me since i haven't even shared what this thing is. i hate when other people do that. i feel torn. one of the reasons i've avoided talking about it for so long is that i don't want people to think i want attention for it. i also don't want to be judged because of it. and i'm afraid that if i fix it, all my fears will be realized. and i kind of already know the reaction i'll get if i say anything. i've talked about parts of it with people before, and i usually get the same reaction, the same reassurances. but what good is that when i don't believe them? i've spent my whole life trying to convince myself that what they're saying is true. if i can't convince myself, then how can anyone else convince me?

then there's this other side of me - this side that feels SO compelled to be truthful. i NEVER want to come across as someone who presents her life as perfect. i want others to perceive me as a real person, flaws and all. the nature of lifestyle blogging is to sort of present your life as this pretty little package all tied up with a nice little bow. and it isn't hard to do! it's pretty easy to present your life as perfect on the internet actually! take some pictures, write some words, and you're done. you only have to share the parts you want to share. OR you can just make up parts that aren't even really YOU and share them.

but i don't want that. i don't want that for me, and i don't want that for anyone who happens to read what i write. i'd feel horrible doing that to another woman...or man! we already struggle with so much insecurity as it is. why should i try to make others believe that i've got it all figured out when i don't? i've compared my life to the lives of other bloggers a lot. i've thought they had the world at their feet, that they lived perfect, charmed lives in their gorgeous houses with their beautiful wardrobes, perfect bodies, and flawless faces.

but last year, i finally figured out that that was just a façade. nobody has a perfect life. nobody has it all figured out. we all have problems, insecurities, hang ups. sharing those things is up to the individual. there's no rule that says lifestyle bloggers have to share everything about themselves. we're allowed to show only the good things, only the pretty things.

but that doesn't sit well with me. obviously, i don't share every single thing about myself on this blog. i don't have that kind of time or energy. but i would like you all to know that i don't fancy myself a perfect woman. i don't have it all figured out. i have insecurities that keep me awake for hours at night.

so i guess this post is sort of a check-in for me - i'm checking in to let you know that i'm not trying to parade myself around as perfect. i'm working through a pretty big issue right now. i'm still a very happy person, and i love my life, but there's more to my life than i have the energy to share on a regular basis. i guess this post is to share the commitment i've made to this blog:

i commit to being real on this blog. i commit to talking about the big things in life from time to time. i commit to NEVER posting something that is false. yes, i will talk mostly about the good things in my life, but i won't act like the bad things don't exist.

this is my teeny-tiny contribution to creating the kind of world i'd like to live in. hopefully, one day i'll be able to make a bigger contribution. but, for now, this is something that i can do.

lest we forget...


here i am - finally at the end of our cambria mini-moon photos. i miss it as much as i miss our mini-moon in san francisco. it was perfect - relaxing, peaceful, fun. in my expert opinion, traveling is the secret to success in a marriage.

this post is going to be mish-mash style, starting with some photos and ending with some memories.

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favorite memories of our trip to cambria:

fresh air
STARS!!!!
trees
sunsets from the jacuzzi
delicious food in teeny tiny portions
mediocre coffee
the local band at the hotel bar
hearst castle
contraband pb&js and parmesan fishies in the hearst castle movie theatre
huge hotel breakfasts
plant shopping
antique browsing
ollalieberry pie à la mode
the hotel kitty
the plant kitty
the cemetery kitty
sunshine
cambria twists
succulent gardens
our violet called violet
wind storms
green pollen everywhere
a bird in our bathroom
the hawk
sleep
rest
quiet
love

we say "i love you" with cheese


levi wanted to do something sweet for me last week, so he surprised me with a cheese plate and framboise at home one night.

it probably sounds silly, but cheese plates are romantic to me. they remind me of our honeymoon where our tradition was to share a cheese plate and wine before dinner every night.

levi was really cute about this cheese plate in particular. he went to whole foods on his own one morning and chatted with my favorite cheese lady. they came up with this little number:

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smoked gouda topped with adriatic fig preserves served with glazed pecans and mini croccantini

divine.

i skipped dinner that night just so i could refill the cheese plate.

23 March, 2011

just thought you should know...


...that pain du monde serves the most beautiful food!

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every single time!

my proof is here and here.

i think i need to go get one of those fruit bowls today...i'm drooling thinking about it...

and maybe a chocolate croissant too...

YUM.

sitting


on sunday morning, my family all met up to see our unborn nephew in an ultrasound (so cool!). later, we had plans to meet up again for dinner at my brother and sister-in-law's house.

this meant there was time to kill in the middle of the day.

we ended up passing this time by sitting.

levi, my sister, and i sat all over the place: couches at anthropologie, coffee shops, restaurants, shoe-shine stations, random thrones...

it was an interesting day.

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random, but enjoyable. just the way i like it!
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